We Hacked the Jolliest Filipino Spaghetti Ever

It’s the one dish that every Filipino can get behind—soft spaghetti noodles topped with a sweet, strikingly red sauce loaded with round red hotdogs and ground meat. It was your first experience with pasta. It was your seventh-birthday treat. It was there to be with you during your highest and lowest times, from your family Sundays to your first heartbreak. Nothing can be as comforting as this Filipino staple that one can only get from the happiest bee on earth.

This spaghetti is one that not a single restaurant in the whole world can replicate. Until now. We asked the help of Francis Lim of Tipple and Slaw and Nav to come up with a recipe that’s as close as possible to having the same spaghetti goodness in the comfort of one’s home. The result of his many recipe tests and trials is the recipe you will find below. You might be surprised to see a couple of ingredients in there, but they’re what chef Francis discovered to be necessary in whipping up the legendary sauce.

Liver spread and banana ketchup aren’t exactly new to any spaghetti. But condensed milk? We, too, were surprised. So here it is. We don’t want you to stop patronizing the happy bee just yet, but here’s a chance for you to enjoy the spaghetti any time and anywhere. Jolly cooking!

Jolly Spaghetti Hack

IMAGE Majoy Siason

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

1 tablespoon finely chopped white onion

50 grams ground beef

200 grams sweet Filipino-style spaghetti sauce

½ cup banana ketchup

30 grams liver spread

50 grams sliced red hotdogs

¼ cup condensed milk

cooked spaghetti noodles and grated cheese, to serve

Instructions:

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion until soft.

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